I like to say, I can’t eat the same meal every night, and I can’t play the same music either.” It’s the same guy, same soul playing all that, touching on a little bit of everything. Maybe for some folks it’s too many styles, but my guitar is the connector between tunes. I love Latin music, Cuban, the Brazilian vibes of Joao Gilberto and Stan Getz, brassy and funky Steely Dannish like the new tune ‘Why Not.’ It’s good to have a funky jam, then a ballad, then something more ethnic. I guess if I ever settled for a single style and did a blues or bossa nova record, it would be great, but as with my tours and travels, I’m never in the same place all the time. Like many of my recordings, the album is marked by a cool stylistic diversity. “Once I built my new studio over here, fired it up and began working on new material, I knew I just had to make a few phone calls to get the right guys to play on it. “When you live near L.A., you can call anyone to come and work with you,” says Antoine, who tracked the all live sessions for Laguna Beach in a variety of rooms. In addition to the core rhythm section of Gorden Campbell (drums), Roberto Vally (upright bass) and keyboardist Marco Basci (keyboards) – a unit that Brown (who mixed the album) calls the modern day equivalent of the classic 60’s-70’s pop session unit “The Wrecking Crew” – the guitarist vibes with bassist Armand Sabal-Lecco, saxophonist (and new neighbor!) Greg Vail, percussionists Gumbi Ortiz and Richie Gajate Garcia, and special guests Philippe Saisse (keyboards on “Why Not,” “Deixa” and “New Morning”), Brown (electric guitar solo on “This and That”), Rick Braun (trumpet on “Minority”) and Dutch harmonica master Tim Welvaars (on “Deixa”). Though he began a handful of the nine tracks at his home studio in Madrid, Antoine – who plays nylon string, steel string, electric guitar, keyboards and percussion – was excited and freshly inspired by the musicians he invited to play on Laguna Beach. He deeply missed the kind of versatility of his musician friends that lived in California, and the camaraderie they shared. Though he recorded some of his most acclaimed recordings while living in Spain – including Hi-Lo Split, My Classical Way, Guitar Destiny and Foreign Xchange, his dual guitar album with current Woodward Avenue labelmate Paul Brown – Antoine often felt stylistically limited when working with locals who were versed mostly in pop and flamenco.
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While keeping his deep melodic flow and exotic textures front and center, he shares the lighthearted spirit of his exciting new life on his highly anticipated Woodward Avenue Records debut, an homage to his new hometown of Laguna Beach.
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After living and recording in Madrid – his wife Rebecca’s hometown – for 12 years, the multi-talented Parisian born acoustic guitarist relocated back to Southern California in 2015. Since emerging as a force in contemporary jazz in the mid-90s with a trademark sound captured in the title of his debut album Classical Soul, Marc Antoine has shared his joyous musical wanderlust on a discography infused with extraordinary exotic journeys.